Traded Mate - Bakudeku

Chapter 16

The only thing that could be heard in the library was silence and the quiet sound of pages being turned. Izuku and Kaminari were the only ones there. The immense library filled with endless shelves of books was close to empty. 

Izuku had wanted to go there in order to change his mind, thus forcing Kaminari to accompany him, but as his emerald eyes travelled on the pages of the book in his hands, his mind wasn't focused on reading. 

When Izuku had woken up this morning, Katsuki hadn't been by his side anymore.

The omega had felt a sting of deception ache in his chest but had tried to pay it no mind. Just because Katsuki had acted differently yesterday didn't mean everything would suddenly change...

But Izuku couldn't stop thinking about Katsuki's pained expression when the King was having his nightmare. He wanted to know the cause of so much distress and wondered if Kaminari maybe knew something. 

He realized he knew little to nothing about Katsuki and wanted to know more.

"Kaminari?" The omega called, breaking the silence. Kaminari seemed surprised to hear his name as he was busy being bored, but his yellow eyes quickly moved to meet Izuku's emerald ones. "Yes, prince?"

"How did Katsuki become the King?" Izuku unexpectedly asked. 

Based on the reputation he had, it had to have been already several years since Katsuki became the Crimson King. It meant he had been really young when he had first taken over the throne, maybe even before reaching his twenties. Izuku wondered why it was the case and where his parents were. Kaminari had already mentioned the former queen but he had used the past tone when doing so, thus leaving Izuku with countless questions...

"You don't know?" Kaminari asked and Izuku shook his head no. The Crimson King was a taboo subject in the Emerald Kingdom.

"There was a rebellion against the former King and Queen, Bakugou's parents," Kaminari informed. "The rebellion was organized by no one else than their trusted generals, so neither of them saw anything coming." He explained and Izuku listened with attention, surprised he had never heard of any of this. 

"What happened?" He asked, eager to know more.

Kaminari let out a sigh. "They murdered the King and the Queen." He sadly stated. "Bakugou was there and he saw everything. Things happened so fast that he didn't have time to do anything before his parents were already dead, savagely killed in front of his eyes."

Izuku gasped in horror. "W-what?" He stammered, his voice breaking and his emerald eyes widening in shock. 

No wonder Katsuki was the way he was, cold and heartless. He had seen his parents's murder and Izuku couldn't even imagine how traumatic it had to be... 

"It made him lose control." Kaminari continued. "Words say anger consumed him and that he ripped every one of the generals's throats with his own teeth, making them suffocate in their own blood." He described and Izuku tried to not imagine the scene, his stomach churning in horror.

"But he didn't stop there," Kaminari stated. "Apparently, the reason why the generals had betrayed the crown was because another kingdom had paid them to do so. So, Bakugou tortured everyone in the palace to try and discover which kingdom it was. However, as nobody knew or simply didn't talk, he decided he would destroy every single kingdom of the land..."

Izuku's emerald eyes widened at the information. The prince had never thought there was a reason why Katsuki was conquering every kingdom one by one. He had thought the King was doing this simply because he was the ruthless alpha everyone described him as, simply because he enjoyed showing off his power as the strongest kingdom of the land... but it wasn't the case.